today, it is rundown, according to developer joyce stanley.tanley: dudley's been an area that's been neglected for a long time by the city, by a lot of banks and the state. d what we want is something to be le to develop sof e buildings, d the rgngsant is something e in ouareao develop narrator: the hope is that large restored buildings might attract new employers to the area. it's a gamble boston needs to make using someone else's money. they desperately need jobs to combat poverty. it's 1994, and the cy has just enter a competition. but unlike this friendly street game, the stakes for boston are high, and the clock is ticking. cities across the country are vying for new federal grants for something called an "empowerment zone"-- a special area of the worst poverty. f spearhead boston's forts,. e yor enlisted geographer linda haar. with the community to establish our empowerment zone plan,k i sat back and started to think about boston from the perspective of a geographer, which is my training, and i've looked at boston along spatial lines. na